Assessment of Shoulder Posterior Structure Tightness in Badminton and Lawn Tennis Players

Shoulder injury is potentially a career ending problem for professional racket sports players. They need to achieve a delicate balance between shoulder mobility and stability to maintain optimal sports performance. There action creates a large amount of compressive forces on the shoulder. Infraspinatus muscle, most commonly get injure, because it slows down shoulder internal rotation(IR) by eccentric contraction. Injury leads to posterior soft tissue tightness. Glenohumeral rotations are important in maintaining shoulder static and dynamic postures in Badminton and Lawn Tennis players. Hence the purpose of this study is to assess for Posterior shoulder soft tissue tightness along with glenohumeral internal rotation deficit (GIRD) and glenohumeral external rotation gain (GERG) in Badminton and Lawn Tennis players. This assessment will help to identify potentials for future injury in the shoulder joint.

80 Healthy badminton and lawn tennis players above the age of 18 years and playing badminton or lawn tennis as a competitive sport for more then 5 years were selected. All subjects were screened, informed about the study procedure, purpose and consent taken. Data were collected on standardized forms and encoded for computerized analysis using Graph Pad Instat Version3.10, 32. within the group paired‘t’ test was used.

Measurable posterior structure tightness in dominant arms of both badminton and tennis players along with associated IR deficit present. Thus shoulder is vulnerable for injury.

Assessment of shoulder should be done on a regular basis on asymptomatic players especially for GIRD, GERG and Posterior Structure tightness in order to avoid any future injuries. Posterior structures stretch (sleepers stretch) shoulder be included in their routine along with rotators strengthening program.